Different kinds of batteries are known from the related art. Such a battery is shown for example in German Published Patent Application No. 10 2008 059 952. A battery (or a battery system), as is used for example in hybrid or electric vehicles, normally is made up of multiple battery modules, which in turn are composed of individual battery cells (e.g. lithium-ion battery cells). An individual battery cell has a housing and electrical storage elements (which are also called galvanic cells or simply cells), which are situated in the housing. The waste heat arising during the charging and discharging process of the battery cell due to the flow of current must be dissipated by cooling. Due to the sometimes high power density, high requirements are placed on the cooling system. A number of proposals are known for efficient cooling of battery cells, which however are often too complex, too expensive to manufacture or limited in their performance.
For example, the aforementioned German Published Patent Application No. 10 2008 059 952 describes a battery, in which the heat dissipation from the battery is ensured by placing the individual battery cell flatly onto a cooling plate that is located outside of the housing. The prerequisite for a good heat transfer between the battery cell and the cooling plate is a high degree of evenness of the contact surfaces. This device has the disadvantage, however, that the heating of the battery cell when charging and discharging increases the pressure within the housing. This pressure increase results in a bulging of the housing walls. This bulging of the housing walls decreases the contact surface between the battery cell and the cooling plate, which results in a reduction of the cooling effect. It is furthermore disadvantageous that the waste heat arising within the electrical storage elements of the battery cell when charging and discharging, must first reach the contact surface between housing and cooling plate by thermal conduction in order finally to be dissipated there. The waste heat is thus disadvantageously not dissipated in close proximity to the electrical storage elements, which results in a poor cooling effect of the battery cell.
It is the objective of the present invention to indicate a battery cell, which provides effective cooling of the electrical storage elements of the battery cell and is simple and cost-effective to manufacture.